The student is able to conduct research according to predetermined methods in which coherence is created between a problem, analysis, trends and solution.
How I have accomplished the learning goal
Item 1
The first item that shows I have met the learning goal is the presentation for Our House. The course that is connected to this presentation is concepting, this was the first course of the year. We were thought how to create a concept during the creation of our concept for our house. We got a booklet we had to follow to come to the best solution/ idea we could, this was done step by step in three days. The presentation shows our end product or so to say the concept we came up with. I think this presentation is a perfect example of how I reached the learning goal, since it shows an end product we came up with after doing a lot of research on the problem at hand and on some trends and developments we thought were interesting for the concept.
Item 2
The second item that show I have met the learning goal is the presentation for Zwarte Cross. For this project the company told us they had problems with the retention and attraction of employees. We started this project by looking at the deliverables we had to have concluded, after this we did our problem analysis, and our internal and external analysis. By doing this we had a good idea of the company itself and what was going on in the outside world, such as competitors. Some models that we had to use during this project were already set, by using those we ultimately came to the most important finding that we had included in the document. From this finding we created our solution and ideas to help the company with their problem. This document shows all the information we found and then It leads up to the solution that we came up with. I think this shows I have met the learning goal since it has good constructive research with coherence between all the deliverables in it.
Item 3
The third item that shows I have met the learning goal is the script we created for our stakeholder analysis. Compared to the differences in the first two deliverables in the preparation this deliverable has a different end product. We did not have to hand in a document but we had to have a stakeholder meeting to show that we had a good understanding of how it is to communicate as stakeholders on, before or after a festival. We started this project off by picking a situation with which we could have such meeting. After we had the situation ready we started coming up with stakeholders and doing research on their behavior in this situation. Think about articles, pictures, statements and more. All of the research was put together into a script that resembles a real stakeholder meeting. As a result we had to have this meeting in front of our lecturers so they could see if we had a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder. I think this item contributes to this learning goal, as it shows that I know how to use information from research to form it into a result.
What I have learned
After last year I had a bit of trouble seeing why extensive research was needed to reach an end goal, this changed completely this year as I now can see how research can influence the product that you are going to deliver to the client. An example of this is that the lecturers showed that you can, with certain theories, dive deeper into what actually fits the target group. By doing this you can come up with better advice than you originally wanted. I have also learned that it is important to make sure your research is coherent with the topic, In one of the project we had a bit of trouble connecting it and this caused some issues in the next phase of our research.
What went wrong
In one of the projects we had we did not focus our theory on the right issue. We did not use the theory how we were supposed to use it and this caused us to have some issues in the further phases of our research. Instead of using this theory for one specific problem we used it in a general sense, this was not smart as it did not tell us anything about the problem at hand. In some projects I had a bit of trouble with what actually had to be handed in as a deliverable, I had a bit of trouble seeing what theories and models we had to use and why they were necessary to get to the goal. In the end I did use them and saw that this created a better foundation for the assignment we were doing.
What I still want/ need to learn
I still want to learn how to connect theories and models to the assignment we are doing in a more understanding and professional way. Sometimes I have the feeling that I am just repeating some of the same models the whole time and they do not really add anything to what we are doing and what we want to work towards as a result. I think for me it is important that I find more theories and models in connection with the research and projects as this might give me a challenge. Sometimes I feel like those models we are using for multiple project are making it easy for me and they kind of make me feel like I am not doing my work the best I can.
Documents and files that show I have met the learning goal
Item 1 – Presentation Our House
Item 2 – Document Zwarte Cross
Item 3 – Script stakeholder analysis